cherold reviewed Abducted by Susan A. Clancy
Review of 'Abducted' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a short but very interesting book by a psychologist fascinated by the vagaries of memory. In her introduction, she tells of the criticism she received on a study of whether people with recovered memories of child abuse were more prone to false memories, and Abducted seems to be an attempt to research a similar topic with less risk of infuriating people (although of course she did infuriate a few).
Clancy appears to be very skeptical of "recovered memories," saying that there's no evidence to show that people actually forget their traumas, and a lot of evidence to show that it isn't that difficult to create false memories through hypnosis or other means.
To research false memories, she needed a memory that was definitely false, so she chose alien abductions, since any reasoned look at the evidence suggests there is no such thing. Clancy is a great believer in …
This is a short but very interesting book by a psychologist fascinated by the vagaries of memory. In her introduction, she tells of the criticism she received on a study of whether people with recovered memories of child abuse were more prone to false memories, and Abducted seems to be an attempt to research a similar topic with less risk of infuriating people (although of course she did infuriate a few).
Clancy appears to be very skeptical of "recovered memories," saying that there's no evidence to show that people actually forget their traumas, and a lot of evidence to show that it isn't that difficult to create false memories through hypnosis or other means.
To research false memories, she needed a memory that was definitely false, so she chose alien abductions, since any reasoned look at the evidence suggests there is no such thing. Clancy is a great believer in the scientific method, pointing out that a lot of anecdotes are no more evidence than one anecdote.
Clancy explains the way false memories can be created, the way people can interpret events in interesting ways, and the psychology typical of people who are prone to fantastic theories. She also reveals some unexpected facts; for example, most people who say they've been abducted by aliens have no memory of this happening but have simply deduced it.
I like Clancy. She's smart and skeptical. And while she sometimes is a little snarky (which I like), she clearly really wants to understand her subjects, and takes their belief in their beliefs seriously even though she knows they're off the mark.
If you believe you've been abducted by aliens, you're likely to find this book utterly infuriating. But if you're interested in the workings of the fascinating and unreliable human brain, this is an excellent book.